Knicks 121, Pistons 112: Scenes from the fourth-quarter redemption of Immanuel Quickley

The New York Knicks held off a frisky Detroit Pistons squad Friday night, 121-112. The Pistons are bad — they’ve yet to win on the road this season, and they were missing Cade Cunningham — but the Knicks aren’t the kind of team that can care about style points right now.

RJ Barrett put up the best stats of the night, with a season-high 30 points on 10-17 shooting to go along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. That’s a damn fine shooting line, but I honestly think his passing was the difference tonight.

As the Pistons closed the deficit in the fourth quarter, the Knicks relied on the backcourt of Jalen Brunson and Immanuel Quickley to seal the victory. Brunson was magnificent, with 26 points on 8-16 shooting, 7 assists and 4 steals. He fought the Pistons off with this incredible three-point play, which came after IQ saved the ball going out of bounds.

IQ has been struggling mightily on offense, but Tom Thibodeau stuck with him to close this game out, and the kid rewarded him with 8 fourth-quarter points, including the dagger three on a pass from RJ.

There was some weirdness and sloppiness, but a win is a win. I’ll get you the recap tomorrow morning. Rest up!